92 VANUA. 



Before, however, these classic journals were published, our energetic 



collector, Thomas Lobb, bad made his way to the Khasia Hills and 



despatched a consignment of plants to our Exeter firm, which 



fortunately arrived in good condition. One of the first plants to 



flower was exhibited by us at the meeting of the Horticultural 



Society of London, held in Regent Street on December 3rd, 1850, 



when it was received with marked favour. As a proof of the high 



estimation in which this orchid has been and is still held by 



amateurs, we need only point to the unusual number of coloured 



illustrations of it published in the horticultural periodicals quoted above. 



Cultural Note. — Not much can be added to the above description of 



the conditions under which Vanda aerulea grows in its native home. 



Mr. C. B. Clarke, the excellent Indian botanist, communicates to the 



Gardeners' Chronicle (I. s. 3 (1887), p. 77) the following :—" In Shillong 



station on the Khasia hiUs, at 5,000 feet altitude, it is not unusual for 



8 to 10 degrees (Fahr.) of frost to occur in the month of January. At 



this level, and even higher, Vanda caindea grows very fast and flowers 



profusely. It comes into flower in October at the end of the rains 



and remains long in flower." These climatic data therefore afi'ord but a 



slender clue to the cultural treatment of the plant, as any approach 



to imitating the extensive range of temperature to which it is subjected 



on its native hills, and the excessive downpour of rain upon it during 



the growing season is simply impracticable in the glass-houses of this 



country. The practice of the most experienced cultivators is to give 



V. aerulea the lightest position in the East Indian house during the 



period of active growth, usually suspending it in a teak basket near 



the roof-glass, and supplying it with abundance of moisture. As soon 



as the flowers are ready to expand it is then removed to a cooler and 



drier house in which the range of temperature does not exceed 10° — 15° C. 



(50^—60=' F.). 



V. cserulescens. 



Leaves 5 — 8 inches long, -| inch broad, channelled above and strongly 



keeled beneath, two-lobed at the apex, the lobes terminating in spiny 



tips. Racemes nearly as long again as the leaves, many flowered. 



Flowers 1 — 1^ inch in diameter, on twisted pedicels (including ovary) 



1|- — 2 inches long ; sepals and petals obovate-spathulate, pale blue ; hp 



deep blue, three-lobed, the side lobes small, oblong, the intermediate 



lobe obovate, emarginate with deflexed margin and two thickened median 



ridges above ; spur short, incurved. Column blue ; anther yellowish, 



Vanda cferulescens, Griffith, Notulse, p. 352 ^1851). Liudl. Fol. Orch. Vanda, No. 

 19 (1853). Rchb. in Card. Chron. 1869, p. 491, and 1870, p. 527, icon. xyl. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 5834. Williams' Orch. Alb. I. t. 48. Fl. Mag. n. s. t. 256. Hook. f. Fl. 

 Brit. Ind, VI. p. 50. 



